From the Three Rs to the Three Ms: a New Compulsory Curriculum for the 21st Century
Since William Curtis coined the term that has become synonymous with 'the basics' of education, the world has moved on. Our curriculum must do the same.
It had been a most excellent evening. The wine had flowed, the mutton was exquisite, and now the port was being passed (from the left, of course). William Curtis sat puffing on his pipe, admiring the gathering. All of London’s high society was there, and felt honoured and more than a little proud that a boy born to a family of simple biscuit-makers had risen to become Lord Mayor.
The year was 1795. Little did Curtis know that the impact of a speech he was about to give, with ironic humour, would last for more than two hundred years and become ingrained into the fabric of the world’s education systems.
He stood and tapped his glass. The room hushed. “Gentlemen, pray silence please, for I wish to share some well-earned wisdom that I have gathered over these many years. I am but a humble man as you know, not born of landed wealth but rather from a fortune gained from the graft of my dear papa, God rest his soul.
“I am not an educated man, so forgive me if I offend your learned ears with mangled prose. But I wish to impress upon you all how important is this education of which I wish to speak. For without it we will see no great progress in our time, nor will our Empire grow.
“I hear of the Prussians educating their common youth better than us. How is that possible I hear you cry? Many things he may be, but King Frederick understands the importance of ensuring every boy, no matter his background, gains a simple knowledge of learning’s fundaments.
“So I beseech you all, as you sit here with the learning of Eton, Harrow or Marlborough coursing through your veins, to join me in supporting what we all know must come to pass: that the three Rs of reading, writing and arithmetic must become the very foundation of each one of our young men’s first years here on earth.
‘The three Rs I hear you cry? What does the man mean? Only one of those begins with the letter R. And this is my very point! For a man like me can only but pretend learning. Surely, then, we owe it to this great nation to arm its menfolk with the tools to drive forward into a land of opportunity and abundance, fuelled by an education I sadly never myself received. Let us work together to make this come to pass, and in so doing propel Britannia to new heights of productivity, progress and power!”
The Three Rs
You will I hope forgive me for recreating this scene (including its speech, which I made up), but it is indeed likely William Curtis first coined the term ‘the three Rs’ in an after dinner speech in 1795, and whilst he did so to make an ironic point about his own education, they have stuck with us for more than 200 years and show little sign of departing.
There is good reason. We know how important these fundamentals are: what we now know as literacy and numeracy underpin everything that follows and are the bedrock of a primary education. We must lay the foundations in the first years of a child’s education in order for other structures to be built on top.
Regardless of the likely impact of artificial intelligence on so many areas of knowledge, and however much it might come to redefine the educational landscape, without being able to read, write and do basic mathematics our young will always be at a disadvantage. The mode of delivery might change in future, from dry didactic instruction to learning via AI-supported projects, but the ‘fundaments’ will remain.
Three New Fundamentals
I don’t want to dwell too long on the three Rs, as there are three other fundamentals I believe will become as important as we move into the next phase of our ‘edvolution’. Conveniently for us, they actually do begin with the same letter. They are the Three Ms, and introducing them into schools as compulsory elements will I believe be of enormous benefit to all. They are:
Mindfulness
Movement
Music
The reason I believe these are so important is not only because they teach children calm, control and creativity (the Three Cs if you will), but they help to regulate an imbalance in dopamine, the neurotransmitter that can be as detrimental to our mental health as it can be beneficial.
This may at first glance seem counterintuitive. Surely dopamine is the feel good brain drug, the neurotransmitter responsible for feelings of wellbeing and happiness? It’s true that dopamine plays an important role in reward and pleasure, as well helping to regulate movement and emotional responses. Mice who have had their dopamine levels artificially reduced have no interest in moving or even eating and will eventually starve to death unless food is placed into their mouths. We therefore need it to survive.
However, spikes of dopamine, caused through indulging in excessive or addictive behaviours, have been shown to produce a corresponding trough which can lead to low energy, anxiety and depression. In her excellent book Dopamine Nation, Anna Lembke gives a series of harrowing accounts of people who have allowed dopamine to rule their lives, resulting in addictions which have led to the loss of jobs, marriages, even attempted suicide. I highly recommend reading it.
Dopamine Nation
The problem we have in our ‘Dopamine Nation’ is that we are surrounded by triggers, a myriad of stimuli all vying for our attention. Social media, TikTok, Insta Reels, video games, pornography and drugs to name only a few. It’s hard enough for adults to regulate this in our own lives, and we have the benefit of a fully developed neocortex (that part of the brain responsible for regulating behaviour - our common sense voice, if you will). However, this part of the brain is not fully developed into the early twenties (a year or so later in boys than girls). This means that we are bombarding our children with these dopamine elevating stimuli day and night when they have little ability to regulate their consumption of these stimuli.
What is the effect of this? It does not make for pleasant reading. Lembke shares some worrying findings: “According to the 2011 data from the National Health Interview Survey of the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics, 7.5% of American children between the ages of six and seventeen took a prescribed medication for “emotional and behavioural difficulties”. Poor children were more likely to take psychiatric medications than those not living in poverty (9.2 per cent versus 6.6 per cent). Boys were more likely than girls to be medicated.” Even before the explosion in smartphones and social media, as much as one in ten children in the USA was being medicated.
The most recent data is even more worrying. According to 2023 Mental Health America data:
Almost 12% of youth are experiencing severe major depression;
Almost 6.5% reported substance use disorder;
60% with major depression received no mental health treatment.
Regarding medication usage, a staggering 18% of children aged 0-11 years and 27% of adolescents reportedly used prescription drugs in the last thirty days. Whilst this data does not directly indicate the root cause of this drug taking, the fact that such a high percentage of children and young people are taking medication shows that there is something very wrong with society.
Dopamine Detox
I have experienced this dopamine imbalance first hand, as I believe we all have. I recently found myself increasingly chasing dopamine highs. I didn’t even realise I was doing it until I found myself constantly on edge, not sleeping and unable to switch off for more than a few moments. I was constantly reaching for my phone (my major dopamine hit provider), checking social media feeds for likes, doom scrolling news sites and Twitter streams, and aimlessly flicking through TikTok videos of funny cats, movie reviews, and tech ‘experts’ promoting some worthless solution to a non-existent problem.
After reading Lembke’s book I came to the conclusion that my dopamine regulation was out of whack. I needed to stop, rebalance, and find my centre once more. It is impossible to be grounded when these triggers are constantly pulling you one way or the other: Check me out! Look at me! I’ll make you happy! This is the answer to your problems! This will make you more successful! This is soooo funny! And so on. Constant, endless, and all utterly worthless. And I do mean that. Because 99% of every interaction we have with these dopamine elevators is a complete waste of time.
So what did I do? Three things. I focused on mindfulness, movement, and music.
Dopamine Regulator #1 Mindfulness
I have meditated for many years. Back in my twenties I went on a couple of ten day silent retreats to a monastery in Devon. So it’s been part of my life a long time. But I had let it slip in recent years, with family and the busyness of work taking over. But taking it up again, every morning and at least once during the day, has already enabled me to at least begin to rediscover my centre.
Mindfulness is the practice of single pointed focus on an object, and of drawing one’s attention back to this object when the mind wanders. The most common objects are the breath, a visual object like a candle, or a mantra. Most beginning practitioners use the breath, as focusing on the breath is in itself a calming practice. A simple meditation is therefore to close one’s eyes and focus on the feeling of air entering and leaving the nostrils. When the mind wanders off (which it does a thousand times) you simply bring your attention back to the breath. It sounds simple but it’s one of the hardest things in the world to do. However, it doesn’t matter how many times the mind wanders off, as no one is judging you. Once you know you’ve wandered, you come back to the breath. Some people find counting the breath helpful, or silently repeating words, like ‘in’ and ‘out’ or ‘calm’ and ‘peace’.
I believe every school should begin every day with a stilling and centring practice. Ask children to close their eyes (they can do so at their desk) and follow a simple breathing exercise. When I have done this with my classes the results are remarkable. Even after only a few minutes, children are calmer, more focused and more creative.
Some schools are already embracing this approach. Clarion School in New York City has been offering mindfulness since 2007. Their program is called ‘Clarion Mindful’ and it is designed to help students develop focus, concentration and emotional resilience. In a 2012 study, more than 90 schools across 13 US states were using mindfulness practice with their students, resulting in 25% fewer absences, 50% fewer rule infractions, and 38% percent fewer suspension days.
Dopamine Regulator #2: Movement
All schools do PE, and whilst sport is an excellent producer of longer lasting dopamine, there are other types of movement you can bring into schools which, alongside meditation, can help to rebalance. I have found both yoga and Chi Gong to be immensely helpful to me, and am now practicing them daily.
Yoga has been found to have a positive impact on behaviour and psychological symptoms in school. Like meditation, mindful movement can help to provide balance and calm, as well as supporting better muscle and joint health. Yoga is also low impact, unlike many sports, so for children who struggle with high impact activities it can give them a much needed break from their increasingly sedentary lifestyles. We all feel better after moving.
An increasing number of schools are seeing the benefits of yoga. At Edmunds Elementary, a diverse inner-city school in Des Moines, Iowa, a programme called Yoga 4 Classrooms is used to start and end each day with yoga, breathing, and mindfulness activities. The school has seen improvements in test scores, student behaviour, and school climate as a result. The Accelerated School, a charter school in Los Angeles, California, offers daily yoga and Tai Chi classes to all its students from kindergarten to eighth grade. The school has observed reductions in stress, anxiety, and aggression among students, as well as increased self-esteem, self-awareness, and academic achievement.
Schools might also consider introducing martial arts in their curriculum. Millfield School, a co-educational independent school in Somerset, England, offers a Wado-style based form of Karate as one of its sports options. The school claims that karate helps students develop discipline, focus, resilience, confidence, and self-esteem, as well as improving their mental cognition and emotional wellbeing.
Controlled physical movement (such as martial arts) is an excellent dopamine regulator. In addition to the creation of dopamine and other endorphins through physical movement and social interaction, yoga, tai chi and martial arts balance dopamine levels by reducing the chronic activation of excessive dopamine through stress, anxiety, and aggression. Martial arts in particular can help students manage their emotions, impulses and reactions in a positive way.
Dopamine Regulator #3: Music
Both listening to, and playing music can be of enormous benefit to calming anxiety and creating the conditions for greater focus. We have known for a long time that playing calming music can help babies and young children, but many recent studies have shown that playing a musical instrument can have added benefits for the boosting and regulation of dopamine.
Chanda and Levitin (2013) reviewed the literature on the neurochemical effects of music and found that playing a musical instrument can increase dopamine levels in the brain by providing physical activity, social interaction, and positive feedback. Physical activity stimulates the release of dopamine and other endorphins that create a sense of euphoria and satisfaction. Social interaction also boosts dopamine levels by enhancing bonding, trust, and cooperation. Positive feedback, such as praise, rewards, or recognition, reinforces learning and motivation by activating the dopamine reward system.
Salimpoor and colleagues (2011) used positron emission tomography (PET) to measure dopamine release in the brain of 8 amateur musicians while they listened to their favourite instrumental music. They found that dopamine release was greater when the music induced peak emotional arousal than when it did not. They also found that dopamine release was correlated with heart rate, blood pressure, and respiration, indicating a link between music, emotion, and autonomic nervous system activity.
The prioritising of the EBACC subjects of English, maths, science, humanities and languages, over the arts and music, was a mistake. In addition to the neurochemical benefits of playing an instrument, there is plenty of evidence that it can also help with academic attainment.
Gouzouasis and colleagues (2019) examined the school records of nearly 113,000 public school students in British Columbia and found that those who took music classes over many years, starting as early as Grade 5, had higher Grade 10 and Grade 12 exam scores in maths, science and English than those who did not participate in music. This was particularly the case among students who learned to play an instrument (compared with vocal music) and were more involved in their school orchestra and band programmes.
Schellenberg (2006) randomly assigned 144 children to one of four groups: keyboard lessons, voice lessons, drama lessons, or no lessons. After one year, the children who received music lessons showed larger increases in IQ than the children who received drama lessons or no lessons. The effect was similar for keyboard and voice lessons.
For me, picking up my guitar once more has been a godsend. I had stopped playing a while back, preferring instead to lie on the sofa with TikTok or searching Netflix for anything worth watching. I am now apportioning a specific time every evening to playing. I feel very different afterwards as I feel it connecting into a part of my brain that usually lies dormant.
A 3M Programme for the New School Year
I encourage every school to introduce a 3M programme as part of their development planning for next year. With the rapid increase in digital technologies such as AI, it is more important than ever to focus on human activities that bring calm, control and creativity into each student’s school experience. I am working with the British International School of Tunis on precisely this programme for next year, as we believe that this will unlock so much for our students. For more information, please do get in touch.
I would like to think, were William Curtis with us now, he would heartily approve of how his 3Rs are being rewritten for the 21st Century. Let’s raise a toast, sir, and ensure our children are both wise and healthy!
References
Lembke, Anna, Dopamine Nation, Dutton, 2021
https://www.mhanational.org/issues/2023/mental-health-america-youth-data
Youth data 2023 | Mental Health America (mhanational.org)
https://www.singlecare.com/blog/news/prescription-drug-statistics/
Prescription drug statistics 2023 (singlecare.com)
https://eocinstitute.org/meditation/meditation-and-teachers-benefits-for-educators-and-students/
How Meditation Benefits Students in the Classroom – EOC Institute
https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/seven_ways_that_yoga_is_good_for_schools
Seven Ways That Yoga Is Good for Schools (berkeley.edu)
https://positivepsychology.com/yoga-in-education/
Yoga in Education: 7 Poses and Activities for Your Classroom (positivepsychology.com)
https://www.millfieldschool.com/news-events/blog/blog-details/~board/millfield-blog/post/the-benefits-of-martial-arts-in-academic-learning-in-schools
The Benefits of Martial Arts in Academic Learning in Schools | Blog Details (millfieldschool.com)
https://www.unicef.org/parenting/child-development/baby-music-soundtrack-to-development#:~:text=Improve%20moods%20and%20empower%20young%20children%20by%20reducing,of%20brain%20chemicals%20such%20as%20dopamine%20and%20oxytocin.
Baby music: The soundtrack to your child's development | UNICEF Parenting
https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/why-is-music-good-for-the-brain-2020100721062
Why is music good for the brain? - Harvard Health
https://www.mindlabpro.com/blogs/nootropics/playing-instrument-changes-brain
How playing an instrument changes your brain and may make you smarter – Mind Lab Pro®
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/british-journal-of-music-education/article/impact-of-instrumental-music-learning-on-attainment-at-age-16-a-pilot-study/F439F0A77A79858988B66C172FF5CC72
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/06/b-c-students-who-took-music-classes-scored-higher-than-peers-in-math-science-and-english-study/